Daniel Tomasulo

As a child, Daniel J. Tomasulo had a very active imagination. He was convinced his father was a spy, not just an ordinary spy either, but a double agent. He was so proud of his father and would beg to join him on some of his “missions.” Daniel also believed that he controlled all of the street lights and traffic lights in Union City, New Jersey and New York City, so he was pretty upset when his family moved to the country. His father solved all of his problems by secretly wiring a local streetlight to all of those in Union City and New York City. When Daniel’s mother told him that she became pregnant when a seed grew inside her, he swore off all foods that could possibly contain a seed and subsisted on cream cheese and butter sandwiches, as long as the bread wasn’t rye, of course. Daniel grew up, got married and became a psychologist and psychodrama trainer. He tells the story of the first person he did a psychological test on for the state. It was the first time he’d tested someone with an intellectual disability and his patient was quite a character. He shares the story of accidentally decapitating his daughter’s Ken doll. He tells of training for and running in the New York City Marathon.

These and other stories are included in Daniel J. Tomasulo’s Confressions of a Former Child: A Therapist’s Memoir. Tomasulo’s writing engaged me right from the beginning. His memories are written in a non-linear fashion, but he writes in such a way that it works. When he writes about his childhood, it’s obvious he remembers how it feels to be a child. Some parts of this book are very funny and had me laughing out loud. I even read parts to Carl and he was laughing at it, too. Carl said he could see why I was enjoying the book. I have to say that I really didn’t enjoy the part when he wrote of the psychodrama he performed to resolve some issues with his late mother. While this may have been something important for him to go through, I felt like it was too personal for me to read about. Overall, I felt like this was a good, but not great book.… (mais)

Confessions of a Former Child is such a nice and touching memoir about the life of psychologist, Daniel Tomasulo. Throughout his memoir we are able to learn about his parents, his friends, patients, and some of the most important events in his life. I liked how every chapter was a short story, yet they all came together in the end.

I will confess there were times where I was literally sitting there cracking up (by myself ... in my car) reading about some of his thoughts (i.e. how eating seeds could get you pregnant; we got a shitter here!; powers of controlling all street lights and traffic lights, etc). And yet, there were also times that were more serious and sad (and well yes, I shed a tear or two).

This is one of those “gobble ‘em up”-type books that you can read in one sitting. It’s funny, witty and addictive. I highly recommend it.… (mais)